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Friday, November 09, 2007

Fr. Euteneuer responds to Jesuit who "Came Out¹ at Campus Mass

This is how we are called to admonish a sinner. Fr E did NOT get into speculating whether or not this priest had ever been involved with another man, how many, how old, how often, who knew, who didn't know. He did not get into the blame game of whose fault (as in VII).

He spoke directly to what was made known to the public, and called him back to repentance and proper behavior for a priest, including the reason for why it was NOT proper to break this news via the Pulpit.

Fr E did not NEED to know those details. He did not encourage rumor. He did not gossip. He very directly (and probably angrily) called the Jesuit in question to PUBLICLY apologize, and live the life he had chosen.

There is no name-calling. There is no speculation about any relationships nor what could be meant "when by your own admission this was hardly a secret to anyone."

Fr E spoke directly to the situation, and based it on what was done, what was said, what was already made public. He pointed to the error succintly and called it what it is. He called him BACK to his primary duty as a priest, and publicly called him to apologize to his congregation for using the Mass for her personal pulpit. At the end, he gave this advice:

I would ask you, in the Name of Jesus, to go back to your congregation and offer them a renewed witness to your masculine love for Christ's Bride the Church. Assure them that you will defend them in a manly way from all wolves that attack them, Jesuit or otherwise, and that you will be a strong and loving father for all their needs, not a man pre-occupied with his own orientation.

If you are unwilling to do that, I recommend that you make a thirty-day Ignatian retreat at Tyburn, England, where dozens of your Jesuit brethren were hung, drawn and quartered in the English Reformation—all for the sake of Christ's Bride. That would be a good refresher course in both theology and priestly love.

FRONT ROYAL, VA — The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International, (HLI) today published an "open letter" to Father Thomas J. Brennan, SJ, who declared that he was a homosexual during a student Mass, admitting that it was one of "the worst kept secrets" on campus.

Father Euteneuer's response, "Homosexual Jesuit Needs Refresher Course in Priestly Love" was published in his weekly email newsletter, Spirit & Life, available Thursday after 3:00 PM EST on the HLI website (http://www.hli.org ). The letter called for Brennan to apologize to his congregation.

Father Euteneuer said, "There is something just plain wrong about abusing people's trust in the priesthood in such a public way, and since you chose to 'go public' with this matter, a public response to your outrageous 'outing' is merited."

"First of all," Father Euteneuer said, "Holy Mass is not a forum for your self-expression. You chose the sacred liturgy and the pulpit reserved for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the launching pad for your personal testament to homosexuality … You've read the same documents I've read about the liturgy, and none of them say the liturgy is your personal stage."

He continued, "[Celibacy] is a form of Christian chastity to which youand I are called, and I trust that you are faithful to it. … A heterosexual celibate renounces his natural desire for wife and children in order to embrace the Bride of Christ in a direct spousal relationship. A homosexual celibate renounces an unholy desire for members of the same sex: that is a renunciation of a disorder, not the embrace of a Bride.

"When even a celibate priest chooses to go public about his homosexual identity as an expression of 'diversity' or 'pride', the faithful are rightfully confused and scandalized. Not only do you owe them an apology, you owe them a better example of priesthood. They deserve a priest who is clear about the Church's doctrine about homosexual acts and who teaches it unambiguously. … If you do not clearly witness the Church's teaching about your own vocation, how can you teach others to be faithful to theirs?"

-30-

On Nov 8, 2007 1:59 PM, John Mallon wrote:

Dear Friends,

Here is the text referred to in the earlier press release of Father Euteneuer's Open Letter to the Jesuit who "came out" as a homosexual at a student campus Mass at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.